Two years ago Textures released Drawing Circles, an album that became an immediate favourite amongst fans of intelligent extreme music due to its convoluted rhythmic structures and transcendental, elevating atmospheric interludes. With a sophomore effort as powerful as that, it is not surprising that many people have been waiting for Silhouettes, the latest album by the Dutch band, with a fair amount of anticipation. Well, lo and behold Textures fans: this album doesn't disappoint at all, although the band's evolution didn't take them into places that most of us were expecting.

Since "Polars," Textures have matured with their third album, "Silhouettes," which is a seamless evolution of their second album "Drawing Circles." "Silhouettes" has torn my already high expectations apart and the band has improved on every level. The album is shorter than I thought it would be, but Textures have discovered how to keep the best parts of a song short which keeps the songs fresh.

oh yeah the old "opinion" defense. well you presented what you said as a statement not as an opinion. but whatever, that opinion is strange and does nothing except conform to the extreme metalhead stereotype of "clean vox are for pussies!1" and "growling and grunting = better music". it's not as if i don't enjoy extreme vocals, but it's just getting ridiculous how seriously people are taking it.

but other than that, why don't you try keeping an open mind, huh? listen to the music for what it is, not for what you want it to be

oh yeah the old "opinion" defense. well you presented what you said as a statement not as an opinion. but whatever, that opinion is strange and does nothing except conform to the extreme metalhead stereotype of "clean vox are for pussies!1" and "growling and grunting = better music". it's not as if i don't enjoy extreme vocals, but it's just getting ridiculous how seriously people are taking it.

but other than that, why don't you try keeping an open mind, huh? listen to the music for what it is, not for what you want it to be

The old opinion defense? I'm sorry not everybody on this website states IMO after everything they type. I assumed (for the worst, apparently) that most people have the common sense to understand the difference between an opinion and a fact.

Fact - Canada is the second largest country in the world by total area.
Opinion - Canada is the greatest country ever!

By the way - I like some clean vocals in metal (Green Carnation, Candlemass, Amorphis, Anathema, The Prophecy...etc. and I enjoy lots of music that isn't metal (including radio rock from the '90s and '80s pop).

EDIT: Probably the most ridiculous part of this is that in my original post I typed "for me personally", nullifying any chance at presenting my opinion as a fact.

The old opinion defense? I'm sorry not everybody on this website states IMO after everything they type. I assumed (for the worst, apparently) that most people have the common sense to understand the difference between an opinion and a fact.

Fact - Canada is the second largest country in the world by total area.
Opinion - Canada is the greatest country ever!

By the way - I like some clean vocals in metal (Green Carnation, Candlemass, Amorphis, Anathema, The Prophecy...etc. and I enjoy lots of music that isn't metal (including radio rock from the '90s and '80s pop).

EDIT: Probably the most ridiculous part of this is that in my original post I typed "for me personally", nullifying any chance at presenting my opinion as a fact.

that was just exaggerated now.. my point was not that you have to write 'imo' and 'for me personally' every time you say something. that would be completely stupid. what i meant was that people should express their views in a way that it doesn't look like they consider it to be the ultimate truth.

to clarify, when i said 'the old opinion defense', then i meant the tendency of people to abuse their freedom of speech, by proudly stating all sorts of ignorance, and then naively believing that all opinions are equal in value.

tell me, does it make sense to you that singing is being referred to as 'clean vocals'? singing with a normal voice is default and shouldn't be treated like it's exotic. of course i understand why screaming and yelling and whatever vocal harshness is prominent in aggressive music, but unless you're a complete autist, you'd actually know that metal music isn't 100% hate and anger. this Textures album doesn't only express feelings of fury and tension. or would you rather that he scream during the serene, ambient moments like in the song Messengers? how does that make sense in any goddamn way?

oh and that 'lots of music' part where you mentioned 80's pop and 70's rock made me giggle. i'm not going to assume that you really don't have a wider interest in music, but if you say 'lots of', then AT LEAST say something that isn't somehow related to metal music

...what i meant was that people should express their views in a way that it doesn't look like they consider it to be the ultimate truth.
Again with the first statement, "for me personally". In terms of differentiating between my opinion and a fact, I don't think it gets any more obvious than that.

...naively believing that all opinions are equal in value.
I do believe that all opinions are equal in value, at least opinions of people who have enough of a mind to form their own.

tell me, does it make sense to you that singing is being referred to as 'clean vocals'?
It makes sense to me because it helps create a distinction between harsh vocals and clean ones.
You can call it screaming and growling or singing and chanting, whatever works for you.

would you rather that he scream during the serene, ambient moments like in the song Messengers? how does that make sense in any goddamn way?
Just because a moment is serene or ambient in a song doesn't mean only clean vocals are appropriate.

if you say 'lots of', then AT LEAST say something that isn't somehow related to metal music
If I tell you I listen to Ingrid Michaelson or Genesis or Rachmaninov, you'll find a way to relate them all back to metal, so I'd rather not delve further into my musical preferences outside of metal.

i'm going to forfeit from this discussion. i have more to say, but i won't. you proved that you're not a mindless metalhead dumbass who i first thought you were. people who are unable to show any real appreciation toward music just irritate me to no end

but it still puzzles me how you can see something negative in the singing on this album..

Textures and Communic are two bands off the top of my head I want to like, I really should like, but I just can't. Something about them, cannot finger point. Well, TBH it's probably the djent in Textures - not a big fan. But it's weird, Sunpocrisy has a lot of djent in their music and I loved their last release to death.

Textures and Communic are two bands off the top of my head I want to like, I really should like, but I just can't. Something about them, cannot finger point. Well, TBH it's probably the djent in Textures - not a big fan. But it's weird, Sunpocrisy has a lot of djent in their music and I loved their last release to death.

I know the feeling, I've got the same with Mastodon. Should like them, they have everything for me, yet they just don't click